August 7, 2013 Planning Committee Meeting

The
Planning Committee of the Board of Trustees of Illinois Valley Community
College District No. 513 met at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, August 7, 2013 at the Illinois
Valley Community College Ottawa Center, Ottawa, IL.

Others PhysicallyPresent:Jerry
Corcoran, PresidentCheryl
Roelfsema, Vice President for Business Services and FinanceLori Scroggs, Vice President Learning and
Student DevelopmentAmy Smith, Institutional Research DirectorSue
Isermann, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Workforce
DevelopmentSteve Alvin,
Interim Dean of Humanities, Fine Arts, and Social Sciences

The meeting was called to order at 5 p.m. by Dr. Driscoll.

THE INTEGRATED POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION DATA SYSTEM (IPEDS)

IPEDS is a system of survey
components that collects data from about 7,500 institutions that provide
postsecondary education across the United States. IPEDS collects institution-level data on
students (enrollment and graduation rates), student charges, program
completions, faculty, staff, and finances.
Comparison group data is included to provide a context for interpreting
IVCC’s statistics. IVCC chose 11
institutions to be in the custom comparison group which included: Highland Community College, Illinois Eastern
Community Colleges – Olney Central College and Wabash Valley College, John A.
Logan College, Kankakee Community College, Kishwaukee College, Lake Land
College, Lewis and Clark Community College, McHenry County College, Richland
Community College, and Sauk Valley Community College. The data provided is from academic year
2011-2012. The percent of students
enrolled by race/ethnicity and percent of students who are women was
reviewed. Because the summer of 2011 was
the last semester Sheridan inmates were taking IVCC classes, there was a drop
in some subpopulations, i.e., Male and Black/African American. The federal government has also changed the
way it categorizes students and employees by race and ethnicity. The fall term full-time headcount continues
to decline, while the part-time headcount has increased slightly. The unduplicated headcount and total FTE for
FY2011-12 remained fairly stable. There
were 45 fewer students, but those enrolled generated 63 more credit hours than
in the previous year. The number of
completions has continued to increase, reaching an eight-year high in the
number of Associate degrees and certificates of less than one year. IVCC reported an increase in the number of
Pell grant recipients, but the Pell grant package shows a decline because the
larger number of students received marginal amounts of aid. It was noted that institutional grants
(financial waivers by the college) were well below the average of its
peers. From a KPI standpoint, what can
IVCC do to help students with grants? It
was also noted the percent of all undergraduates receiving financial aid was
seven percent below its peer group. Many
of the students do not apply for financial aid because IVCC’s tuition is low
and they don’t think they will qualify.
It was suggested to look deeper into this issue when KPIs are discussed. Of concern is the decline in students’ fall
to fall retention rate. The full-time
retention rate has typically been in the 66 percent to 69 percent range. Although 62 percent is still 5 percent above
the median and third out of twelve peer institutions, this is still a large
decline from previous reporting. The
part-time retention rate ranks second in the peer group. IVCC has somewhat higher graduation rates
than most of its peer institutions. This is a result of the admissions
department a few years ago aggressively encouraging students to “Commit to
Complete.” Program coordinators were
also encouraging students to stay together and graduate. Average salaries of full-time instructional
staff ranked high. This could be attributed
to having more senior members and more credentials and maybe the way it is
being reported. All of those factors can
contribute to a higher cost. KPIs will
be presented and discussed with the Strategic Leadership and Planning Council
and then presented to the Planning Committee.
With the next IPEDS report, the results will be compared with the past
reports.

2012 PERSONAL ASSESSMENT OF THE COLLEGE ENVIRONMENT (PACE)

IVCC has collaborated with the
National Initiative for Leadership and Institutional Effectiveness (NILIE) to
conduct the PACE. The underlying thesis
of the PACE model is that organizational leadership motivates four factors of
institutional climate: Institutional
Structure, Supervisory Relationships, Teamwork, and Student Focus. Leadership style and institutional climate,
in turn, affect student success and institutional effectiveness. NILIE has identified four leadership models,
arranged in order from least desirable to most desirable: Coercive, Competitive, Consultative and
Collaborative. The Collaborative model
yields greater productivity, job satisfaction, communication, and overall
institutional effectiveness. The PACE
survey was distributed to 422 IVCC staff, faculty, and administrators in
October 2012. Of those, 218 (51.7%)
completed the survey. A comparison of
climate factors for the past three surveys was presented. IVCC’s overall mean score increased in 2009
and again in 2012. The overall mean
score for 2012 is 3.80 on a 5-point scale which indicates a healthy campus climate
with a highly consultative management system.
The climate factor that increased most was in the climate of
Teamwork. IVCC’s mean score in this area
is significantly higher than the 2012 NILIE Norm Base mean score. Each of the 10 items under Institutional
Strengths has an overall mean score that indicates a Collaborative system. Six of the top 10 mean scores relate to a
focus on students, which aligns well with IVCC’s Strategic Goal 1: To enable all students to identify and
achieve their educational and career goals.
In the area of improvement, the top two priority areas dealt with the
opportunity for advancement within the institution and the ability to
appropriately influence the direction of the institution. The other eight items dealt with information
sharing. Administrative staff, in
general, had more negative views than faculty and support staff. There are 18 personnel classified as administration,
but there were 22 surveys returned from administration. A disgruntled employee could classify
themself as an administrator and this brings a concern of the validity of this
part of the survey. Respondents were
given an opportunity to write comments about areas of the institution they
found most favorable and least favorable.
Of the 218 employees who completed the survey, 76 respondents provided
written comments. There were more
negative comments on institutional structure, but surveys are not perfect. There could have been someone who had a
negative comment and had a legitimate concern with their supervisor. The president and vice presidents have conducted
“sharing, airing, and caring” sessions where everyone is invited to ask any
questions they may have and notes are taken and sent to “everyone.” Mr. Mallery suggested not discrediting any
comments and he was pleased the administration had looked at this and tried to
address it. He believes it will reap
benefits and encouraged the president and vice presidents to keep
listening. Dr. Driscoll noted three
issues that have emerged from this survey.
Communication is being addressed and is a theme throughout. Opportunities to be involved in decision
making could also be a communication issue, but it gives people a chance to
participate. The whole KPI process
addresses this. Training opportunities
and development will hopefully not emerge again as more money has been directed
to this area. There was a question as to
if funds for professional development were actually cut. Cheryl reported historically the College has
never spent the budgeted amount for professional development so there was a cut
in this area. This is a perception issue
and needs to be communicated. It was
suggested to communicate it during the sharing, airing, and caring sessions. Lori noted that the travel account also
includes extension travel and with the revenue situation with the State being
so uncertain, she has told the faculty to hold back on professional development. Because of this communication, faculty may
have felt travel was cut. However, only 60 percent of what was budgeted for
professional development (beyond travel to extension sites) was spent. When
building the budget, faculty and staff are asked what type of professional
development opportunities they anticipate and then there is a process in place
to prioritize the travels that are requested.

STUDENT PROFILE

This report was formerly known as
the Student Demographic Report. There
has been a change in the report with less information about the student
characteristics and more about student progress. Enrollment, headcount, and credit hours have
declined and resemble 2008 levels. This
is cycling and the College has experienced a cycle in the past. The split in gender is similar. The racial and ethnic makeup of the student
body remains the same from Fall 2011 to Fall 2012. The
largest percentage of students (28 percent) comes from non-population centers
(noted as “other”) with slightly over 18 percent from Ottawa, 16 percent from
LaSalle-Peru, and 12 percent from Streator.
The declared program of study shows 40 percent designating transfer, 27
percent designating career degrees or certificates, and 11 percent comprising
adult education and 12 percent “other” (which includes those who do not declare
their intent). A new change in the
report is the student academic success scorecard. This is a subset of KPI measures that have to
do with academic outcomes. This is set
by an action project team for AQIP accreditation. Since the time KPIs were established, the
data is no longer available to the College.
The State has not provided data since 2005. Internal targets were set, but did not set
them toward a benchmark. Fall-to-Spring
persistence rates exceeded College targets in 2010, 2011, and 2012, while
Fall-to-Fall met target in 2010 only.
Full-time student success (earning A, B, C, or P) exceeded the target in
2010, 2011, and 2012, but part-time student success fell beneath the target all
three years. Graduation rates exceeded
target (30 percent) all three years for the full-time cohort of students. Program outcomes measured through state
licensure examination pass rates for three programs (RN, LPN, and THM) showed
favorable results. Developmental
education data will be added in two months.
The Counseling Center served fewer students during the 2012 calendar
year as compared to 2011. The total
financial aid applications increased by five percent over the previous
year. Financial aid must still prepare
financial aid packets for all FAFSA students who indicate an interest in
IVCC. If the student indicates interest
at IVCC, ISU, and NIU, financial aid must prepare a packet even if they decide
not to attend IVCC. All students who
apply for waivers or apply for scholarships must complete a FAFSA form. Ninety percent of IVCC students complete a
FAFSA. The Tutoring and Writing Center
provides assistance to students on an open-access basis. Total utilization of the Center has grown
dramatically since 2004, when the Writing Center was established. Students are encouraged to attend the Center
and the students have greatly benefited from this. Headcount and credit hours do not tell the whole
story. When the budget is tight and the
revenues uncertain, students come to IVCC with lots of needs and then the
administration comes to the Board asking for more services and personnel. The College seeks different ways to fund
initiatives and does amazing things with less.
Fast-track math is a new initiative where students who fall into the
higher end of development take a math “boot camp” the first two weeks of
class. This is a refresher course on
math skills. They then take a test after
two weeks and if they score at the college level, they can register for a
late-start algebra class. This is the
first semester this is being offered.
There is also the flipped math class.
The students check out a video or pod cast and then come into class to
do homework with help from the instructor.
This seems to be very helpful and has had good outcomes. This “flipped” math class will be repeated
this year. There are plans to do
something similar in the spring with English.
College staff are meeting with high school faculty in English and math
on “Bridging the Gap.” Each high school
was represented. The math instructors
met as a group with a facilitator and looked at junior, senior level classes in
high school and compared them with college classes. The instructors looked at alignment and
identified the gaps and discussed how to fill the gaps.

OTTAWA CENTER

Lori Scroggs and Amy Smith
provided information on the Ottawa Center enrollment and course-taking pattern
analysis. The Ottawa Center opened in Fall
2010. The percentage of students
attending classes on the main campus for Fall 2011 and Fall 2012 is balancing
at about 85 percent, and the number of students at the Ottawa Center at about
eight percent, with both at about seven percent. In the past students were surveyed at the
Ottawa Center to find out if the students would have attended IVCC if the
Ottawa Center was not open. This was
discontinued because students complained regarding the frequency of the
survey. It is very difficult to draw
conclusions from the current data, but it does not appear that the Ottawa
Center is detracting enrollments from the main campus. The Ottawa Center was developed in order to
both attract new students to IVCC, and to meet the needs of students on the
east side of the district with a convenient location. Mr. Mallery noted that 42 percent of the
College’s headcount came from the east side of the district. Convenience was the main factor for opening
the Ottawa Center with the concept of serving them better. What percentage of those students are coming
from those same zip codes? Amy Smith is
pulling the data that she has available for this. Mr. Mallery noted if the percentage is 43
percent then we have a deeper penetration because of the Ottawa Center. Dr. Driscoll stated it is worth looking at
the data in several different ways to draw conclusions.

BOARD POLICIES

There were four board policies
for review: 1) Medical/Occupational
Examinations; 2) Purchasing; 3) Drug-Free Campus; and 4) Bicycles and
Skateboards on Campus. The Medical/Occupational
Examinations policy will now include Shipping and Receiving employees. It was
noted the first line of this policy indicated the Board of Trustees agrees to
pay the cost of the occupational examinations. The Board asked that this
sentence be revised. Because of statute
changes, the purchasing policy was modified to reflect the changes. Even though the statute for formal bids
increased to $25,000, the IVCC policy remains at $10,000. The Drug-Free Campus policy was modified to
reflect changes in statutes. The
Bicycles and Skateboards on Campus policy is a new policy to prohibit
skateboarders in certain areas of the campus for safety reasons.

OTHER

Reed Wilson reported on the North
Central Area Transit (NCAT). This is
public transportation system for the entire LaSalle County administered by the
City of Ottawa. A partnership was formed with the Lee/Ogle Transportation
System (LOTS) and was launched July 1, 2013.
The transportation system is starting out slow and building gradually
because the demand is greater than its resources. Dispatching is done out of the Dixon office. LOTS had wanted a bus system and the City of
Ottawa, Horizon House and Illinois Valley Community Hospital have offered their
buses. It is curb-to-curb on-demand
service right now. NCAT is looking to
put together a service contract with the College. Bureau/Putnam Area Rural Transportation
(BPART) already transports students to the IVCC campus. Tickets for the transportation are available
in the bookstore and students are able to purchase them through financial aid
if applicable. Jaime Blotti, Director of
LOTS, is working with the City of Ottawa to figure out the traffic patterns in
the County.